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Brief Forms in Medieval and Renaissance Hispanic Literature

Friday 21 July 2017

Based on a conference held at the IMLR in March 2016, the studies in Brief Forms in Medieval and Renaissance Hispanic Literature engage in different ways with the ideas of André Jolles (1874-1946), whose Einfache Formen [Simple Forms] was first published in 1930. Trained as an anthropologist, Jolles argued that these 'simple' forms – Legende [legend], Sage [saga], Mythe [myth], Rätsel [riddle], Spruch [proverb], Kasus [case], Memorabile [memorable action], Märchen [folk or fairy tale] and Witz [joke or witticism] – which had circulated at a very early stage of human culture underlay the more sophisticated genres of literature. Unlike epic or tragedy, many of the simple forms are not theorised in classical rhetoric. The essays focus on their reception in Hispanic culture from the Middle Ages to ca. 1650.